Armory Stats - Player Achievement Points Distribution
Today we are taking a look at the achievement points distribution of Level 90 players. There are 7.6 million characters and 2.9 million accounts that make up this sample. Main character is defined as the character with the most achievement points on an account.

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Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Warlords of Draenor Item StatsDepends on if you are a class that benefits from all stats, some don't... and wish to reforge the bad stat.
Truly bad stats (and they do exist) are on us to fix. When one stat is 5% better and still considered mandatory = tough to fix. (Source) Miss a break point by few hundred haste? Stuck with wasted stats until perfectly itemized piece drops. Back to BIS lists.
"Miss a break point by a few hundred haste" and "wasted stats" implies a level of min-maxing not necessary for almost all players. (Source)
Barely missing a break point? That's a rounding error for most of us overcome by better use of abilities and movement in a fight. (Source)haste breakpoints for DoTs and HoTs are important. missing by 1 point means 1 less tick, and they are noticable.
There won't be break points on hots and dots any longer. (Source)does this mean haste will increase the duration? instead of reducing time between ticks
Haste will increase the number of ticks, possibly resulting in a final fractional tick. (Source)

Please keep Reforging in. Now that hit and exp are gone, I don't see the reason for it to be removed.
It would mean you still have to reforge everything to your best secondary stat according to someone's website. (Source)Reforging being gone won't stop min-max-ers to min-max their characters, at all. It will stop players defining their style.
I find that a bit contradictory. Whose style is it to do less damage by reforging into the wrong stat? (Source)
It is probably possible to get secondary stats closer, but not possible to get them all within 1% of each other in all fights (Source)Maybe they meant: "want secondary stats to affect play style, not dps". Would be cool (hard as hell) to do that
Yeah it's hard because there will always be a mathematically-solvable right answer for DPS. Not so for tanks and healers. (Source)
We try to get around that by varying the situations a lot. Some fights need burst. Others need AE. Others need movement. (Source)My dream: lots of abilities for dps, you pick and choose what your rotation uses due to what stat you favor. works in theory?
In theory. Might mean balancing a whole lot of different potential rotations. (Source)

It would mean you COULD reforge everything. You're taking AWAY choice. Now, a crappy piece of gear is a dud.
It's not really a "choice" though when the choice is play more effectively (reforge) or less effectively (be lazy). (Source)a statment like that caterning for the people that dont give a shit about playing the game is a ..
I think you misinterpreted the statement. I was arguing reforging isn't really a choice because most players don't want to be bad. (Source)
(They may be bad anyway, but they likely aren't trying to be bad.) (Source)

Bringing back AP/SP is a bad idea. since stacking Agi/Str/Int we get even more from the 5% buff. Plz, dont hate us.
That is solveable. The idea is to make sure jewelry etc. can be shared more easily, particularly between Str and Agi users. (Source)
Another idea is rings swap Str and Agi (but not Int) the way armor does or something similar. (Source)if I'm getting this right. There will be no primary stat on non-armor pieces?
Possibly on weapons, just because weapons are fairly iconic and don't have as much class overlaps as say rings can. (Source)
Obviously, this is all stuff that's in flux as "we" work through it all. (Source)

The post doesn't make this clear, but are they getting rid of Tier tokens?
We haven't decided. There is still some benefit in dropping paly-priest-warlock instead of just warlock. (Source)

Tertiary StatsNew loot system will make loot distribution a PITA. I'm not looking forward to dealing with more loot related drama.
Overall we find sharing fewer items to be better for morale even if the pieces that do drop are highly coveted. (Source)
I meant "Overall we find SHARDING fewer...." That changes the whole context. (Source)

Think tertiary stats dramas organized raids? Chest drops, give to tank. +lifesteal chest drops, give to tank again. 1st wasted
That will happen on rare occasions. But what if a chest drops with Lifesteal but a secondary the tank doesn't like, say crit? (Source)
My point is that overall the landscape will have more answers than just "Is it BiS? If not, pass." (Source)

Ridiculously powerful items being very rare and random like D3, w/o the ability to grind for these as much as you want. Why?
We want the long tail to be exciting. Otherwise you earn BiS quickly and shard everything else for weeks. (Source)

Why does WoD loot seem like Diablo loot system with a 1 week lockout and huge party requirement?
It's not nearly as random as Diablo. We just want to keep that 14th Immerseus kill somewhat exciting. (Source)Lots of people will not see that as something cool or amazing dropping. To them it will feel like the other drops are shit.
Then they're going to go weeks and weeks without a new item if they pass everything that isn't BiS. MC loot style wasn't that bad. (Source)

If Tertiary stats aren't 'common enough to build a set around', then where's the gameplay? Who cares about +0.74% run speed.
Since we don't have to balance around the case of a run speed set, we should be able to make the effects much larger than 0.74%. (Source) Run speed might be a bit too BiS for casters as a tert. stat dont you think?
Run speed will still be pretty rare and on some fights it's totally useless. Seems like a fine position for it overall. (Source)

Computers - Setup of the Month (by chaud)
Each month or every 2 months, depending on the hardware evolutions, the lovely chaud will work on a couple of hardware setups for those of you who are thinking of upgrading their computer!

This month
New GPUs from AMD are here, at least on paper. Finding any AMD GPUs is hard now, as is finding some of the Nvidia GPUs. Prices for many GPUs went up due to demand and the older GPUs being discontinued.

Don't hesitate to post any feedback in the comments of that news post, and don't forget to visit the Computer Forum for any extra questions! If you are interested in Folding@home, take a look in our team's thread.

Icy Veins Christmas Contest
Our friends over at Icy Veins have acquired some very nice prize packages for their contest this year, with Collector's Editions of WoW, J!NX Apparel, AskMrRobot and Curse Premium accounts, mounts, pets, and more. All you have to do to enter is reply to their post with a WoW-themed Christmas Card.

I main a retpally -> haste = funnier gameplay because of reduced GCD and rotational abilities CD.

If in wod I drop no haste gear and/or no gem socket for haste gems I am screwed with shity long CD rotation. I don't care they bring crit more in line with mastery and haste for ret, that's nice. But I still want to be able to gear "haste oriented" even if I'm unlucky with drops.

This has nothing to do with stat balance. Even if they can achieve it (hint : they wont) and will improve even more the choice in gearing (if all secondary stats are nearly equal, just reforge to the one you like the more. Be it more crit, faster hit or bigger hit)

Overall Im looking forward to WoD, but I do feel that removing reforging is a bad idea. With the removal of hit,expertise,parry, and dodge it really makes reforging something that will only be done by min-maxers or peeps playing around with different ideas. If your unlucky with the stats on drops atleast you have a way to try and counter that.

all those arguments blue gave about reforging is really " we want bads to feel little less bad since everyone will be equally fucked by getting gear with not wanted stat" whiich is bigget BS in a long time - min maxers will jsut have their bis lists and anything that is not on this list - DE and forget it dropped and only curse blizzard for hitty rng. bad will be bads regardles of anything -_- and it just a fake move to fake shit so that they wont feel so bad at themselves - while good players will still treat them as crap caue they play like crap -_- not cause they reofrged haste for mastery instead for crit for example -_- min maxers will always min max and blizzard is just saying f u to tens of thousands good players so that lfr bads could feel better about themselves

15 points to 15k.
I really don't get this "lets remove reforging since we are removing some stats that people don't like, but wait we are adding in a bunch of other stats that may or may not even be usable". At least with reforging I could put some of those less then usable stats into something I would actually prefer.

I main a retpally -> haste = funnier gameplay because of reduced GCD and rotational abilities CD.

If in wod I drop no haste gear and/or no gem socket for haste gems I am screwed with shity long CD rotation. I don't care they bring crit more in line with mastery and haste for ret, that's nice. But I still want to be able to gear "haste oriented" even if I'm unlucky with drops.

This has nothing to do with stat balance. Even if they can achieve it (hint : they wont) and will improve even more the choice in gearing (if all secondary stats are nearly equal, just reforge to the one you like the more. Be it more crit, faster hit or bigger hit)

I agree. Its not about being "lazy" or "not giving a shit about my character"....if i do 6 weeks of LFR and the RNG gods drop me mostly crit gear repeatedly (being a ret pally myself)....after 6 weeks i just lose the will to try again, at least with reforging i can place some of that crit into the stat i want.

Seems to me they are defending this more liberal RNG system to extend content.

"Why does WoD loot seem like Diablo loot system with a 1 week lockout and huge party requirement?"
- It's not nearly as random as Diablo. We just want to keep that 14th Immerseus kill somewhat exciting.

Alright who in the hell wants to kill the same boss 14 times just to get one piece of loot? I've been in some guilds that raid and full clear for months and months and there is already that one piece that never seems to drop and some ppl go without getting any loot for 3-4 weeks in a row. For a game that is about "getting loot to improve your character" you figure they would want to make it easier not harder. If the stats on gear are going to be so random then you could see let's say a bracer that has crit/run speed then maybe another one with mastery/crit and continue to see these same stats over and over when all you want is haste on that piece. Without reforge there wont be a way to add haste to it so you're still going to be out a piece of gear until it eventually drops (most likely when you are burnt out and tired of playing the same old raid)

"Lots of people will not see that as something cool or amazing dropping. To them it will feel like the other drops are shit."
- Then they're going to go weeks and weeks without a new item if they pass everything that isn't BiS. MC loot style wasn't that bad.

LOL WUT? If you are looking to fit a certain set of stats with the gear setup you're going for and they never drop how is that better? This is like saying that we should just take whatever BS drops until something good or desired drops. THAT IS NOT FUN! I don't wanna eat shit until someone makes me a pancake...... Who the hell is making these decisions at blizzard? MC loot was aweful and having to share 3 things with 40 ppl??? lol If it wasn't for dkp I would have never got anything back then and even raiding for months and months I'm pretty sure I only upgraded 3-4 things from MC before BWL came out. Unfortunately the guild i was in wasn't able to step up and kill bosses in BWL so my raiding got cut short until BC.

Basically unless they have a lot of trash loot dropping off of random mobs in raids, we're not gonna see much useful gear unless we get lucky. (why does this sound like diablo loot?!?!?!?!?)

all those arguments blue gave about reforging is really " we want bads to feel little less bad since everyone will be equally fucked by getting gear with not wanted stat" whiich is bigget BS in a long time - min maxers will jsut have their bis lists and anything that is not on this list - DE and forget it dropped and only curse blizzard for hitty rng. bad will be bads regardles of anything -_- and it just a fake move to fake shit so that they wont feel so bad at themselves - while good players will still treat them as crap caue they play like crap -_- not cause they reofrged haste for mastery instead for crit for example -_- min maxers will always min max and blizzard is just saying f u to tens of thousands good players so that lfr bads could feel better about themselves

yeah that BiS point GC is trying to make is a bit BS. Right now it is an okay piece that players reforge on their path to BiS and the WoD system which is BiS excluding random "bonus" stats. What it sounds more like is Blizzard is bringing in the new system which will for the most part make gearing up faster while keeping the "tail" end of the gearing still long for those that care about the extra edge. With the armor pieces being the same there might overall be more variety of stat combinations which in turn means less likely to not have a shitty piece as the only piece available. Gear competition is already going to increase and reforging is going to be an extra edge on the competition. Seems Blizzard wants players who think pretty good is good enough to gear up fast just not too fast while at the same time relieve the increased gear competition issue they introduced.

I like reforging and want it to stay as I would rather reforge my gear to try another spec than carry and collect another set just to play another spec without such a large hit. I feel like Blizzard is trying to resolve some issues by introducing new issues. Some of their goals might be a bit too greedy. Hit and expertise is gone so a new piece of gear is not as large of a hit making higher ilvl pieces more likely to be an upgrade as is. The developers talk about it being hard to remove features from players and yet find it trivial to remove reforging is kind of screwed up.

Originally Posted by fleshfurnace

"Lots of people will not see that as something cool or amazing dropping. To them it will feel like the other drops are shit."
- Then they're going to go weeks and weeks without a new item if they pass everything that isn't BiS. MC loot style wasn't that bad.

LOL WUT? If you are looking to fit a certain set of stats with the gear setup you're going for and they never drop how is that better?

For myself I dont see it good on player psychology for someone to get a piece the week before only to see someone else get the same piece but with a bonus the week after. If the intent is to make players feel good about their drops then why make players feel reluctant over getting a piece now or have them think about waiting for next time?

It is also shitty to get used to a bonus like a cleave or a run speed and then get a gear upgrade and lose that extra visual of a cleave or feel slower than what was normal prior to the gear upgrade. I dont mind losing things like tier set bonus which can change gameplay as the choice is a bit more static and expected usually coming at a point where it is replaced with another tier set bonus. Getting random bonuses at such a rarity along with loot competition does not seem fun to me.

The developers talk about it being hard to remove features from players and yet find it trivial to remove reforging is kind of screwed up.

Reforging in my opinion seems like a necessary standard in this game now, especially in WoD with the extra RNG that will accompany the new stat changes. Reforging helps lessen the feeling that you've been bent over and oiled up by the RNG gods.

What? If Haste will still modify the amount of ticks you are getting on HoTs and DoTs, then there *will* be breakpoints. Maybe I'm just overlooking something but I feel like he just said 1+2=banana.

You're overlooking the part of the quote that you trimmed off, which can look conspicuously like trolling. 'Surplus' haste will now cause partial ticks when the dot itself wears off. No more breakpoints.

Why are you recommending air coolers for the Narwhal/Unicorn computer setups? I would honestly think closed loop watercooling would be much better than any of those. Closed also takes up less space in your system and doesn't cover your ram slots.